She pinched her features in dismay before jumping into a lengthy explanation. “Half the people I take out on showings don’t even want a house. They just want to gossip about my brother. Or, worse, sometimes they want to chew me out on his behalf. Still, I’m taking as many extra hours as I can, because your firm doesn’t come cheap. And, if Brock is convicted, I can pretty much kiss this realty goodbye.” Breanne laughed sarcastically and let out a long sigh. “So, yeah, not so hot.”
“I’m sorry to be intruding on your busy schedule,” Charles said. He didn’t seem too apologetic, either. “But we need to explore every possible lead that comes before us, and your brother has asked that I keep you informed of all new developments for his case.”
I shifted uncomfortably in my chair as I tried my best not to stare at her with open hostility. If there was one thing the past few months had taught me, it was that I could trust what animals said far more than I could trust humans. For all we knew, Breanne might just be playing the part of the aggrieved sister, all the while framing her poor brother for a crime she committed.
The most convincing evidence I had to support my theory, of course, was the fact that the happy-go-lucky Yorkie who loved everyone became insecure and defensive when confronted with a mere picture of her.
What else could something like that mean?
I did wish Charles would’ve been open to the idea of having Nan accompany us. She could have engaged in some of her grade-A sleuthing while Charles and I spoke directly to Breanne. I’d only met this realtor minutes ago and already knew better than to trust a single word that came out of her glossy red mouth.
“Has there been a new development?” Breanne asked, crossing her legs above the knee and staring Charles down. “Go on, tell me about it, then.”
Charles glanced toward me and took a deep breath. Oh, gosh, I hope he wasn’t planning on telling her about the talking animals or that we now suspected her because of them.
“This is Angie Russo,” he said as he gestured toward me.
I smiled and waggled my fingers at her awkwardly.
“She’s Blueberry Bay’s best paralegal and has recently signed on to help me defend your brother’s case.”
“That’s all well and good,” Breanne said with a disappointed shake of her head. “But I hired a lawyer, not a paralegal. With as much as we’re paying, Mr. Thompson should really be defending this case himself. Please tell me you didn’t request this meeting just to tell me you have a new assistant. That is not news I should have to pay $275 an hour to hear!”
“Don’t worry. This visit is off the clock,” Charles said with an ingratiating smile. Somehow it actually seemed to work, too.
“Oh?” the pretty realtor said, sitting a little higher in her chair. “Then how can I help you today?”
“In reviewing the discovery with Angie here, we came up with a few new questions regarding the crime scene. Would it be possible for us to have another look around this afternoon?”
“You want to see the house again,” she said flatly. “I guess that’s fine.”
“Great, thank you so much.” Charles rose to his feet and extended a hand across the desk. “If you could just give us the key then, we’ll be on our way.”
“Not so fast,” Breanne said as she stood up with him. “The State Licensing Board is already watching me like a hawk. Even if Brock gets off the hook, the fact still remains that the killer could have gained access to the Hayes’s home through my lockbox. Someone even suggested that maybe I didn’t close it up properly and that’s why my clients were murdered. Can you believe that?”
“Tough break,” I muttered. Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say.
Breanne’s eyes narrowed in on me and she pinched her lips together in quiet contemplation before shifting her gaze back to Charles. “What did you say her name was again?”
“Angie Russo,” I answered on my own behalf, purposefully not offering to shake hands on our re-introduction. “Now can we please go see the house?”
Her eyes zipped back to mine, and this time she sneered openly. The two of us stared at each other for a few moments before Breanne finally caved and showed us out of her office.
“We’ll meet you at the house in about fifteen minutes,” Charles said. “We have a quick pit stop to make first.”
“Fine, but please don’t be longer than that. I have a lot of paperwork to get through tonight and would prefer not to be up all night.”
I didn’t say anything until Charles and I were buckled safely back inside his car. “Well, isn’t she a peach?” I scoffed.
Charles appeared thoughtful as he watched Breanne pull away in her large cherry red SUV. “She’s under a lot of pressure these days. Maybe even worse than her brother,” he explained. His expression became almost tender, which made me feel queasy.
“But that doesn’t mean she needs to be rude,” I argued. “What’s your plan for checking out the house, anyway? I thought the whole point of this visit was to find out if Breanne framed her brother for the murders.”
“We can’t exactly come right out and ask a client if she’s guilty, especially since she’s not the one we’ve been hired to defend. I figured we could grab the animals, grab the discovery, and check the place out. After all, you haven’t seen the crime scene yet. You might notice something I haven’t. Yo-Yo might remember something once we get him back inside.”
“Yesterday, Yo-Yo seemed pretty convinced that Breanne was to blame. He even called her ‘the bad lady,’” I reminded him.
Charles kept his eyes straight ahead as if gathering his private thoughts, ones he wasn’t quite ready to share with me. “Yeah, well, I know Breanne better than you, and I still don’t think she did it.”
“And I do,” I shot back, crossing my arms over my chest like an angry toddler. If I didn’t feel threatened by Breanne before, I definitely did now that Charles was going out of his way to defend her despite our evidence against her. It seemed maybe my crush had a little crush of his own.
Maybe Octo-Cat was right. Maybe I needed to find a nice cat person to settle down with and leave pining for Chuck in my past.
But then he smiled a full-on toothy grin, grabbed my hand, and gave it a good squeeze. “Only one way to find out. Let’s go.”
My breathing hitched in my chest. Oh, yes, I was ready to follow him anywhere. Not just because he was handsome, but also because he was smart, kind, and committed to justice.
And all of that was a good thing, too, since we were heading to the place where two people had recently been murdered…
Chapter Eleven
Charles and I pulled up to the Hayes’s home some twenty minutes later and found Breanne waiting in her SUV idling in the driveway. When we each exited with an animal sidekick, she scrambled out and slammed the door with more strength than I thought she had in her.
Yo-Yo growled and bared his tiny incisors, but made no effort to escape Charles’s arms despite either his anxiety over spending more time with a person he loathed or his unbridled joy at having finally returned home.
“What are you doing with these animals?” Breanne demanded, marching right up to us and blocking our path to the house.
Octo-Cat and I cut across the grass and let ourselves inside, leaving Charles to charm the angry realtor since neither of us would be much help there.
The moment we entered, the sharp tang of chemicals hit my nose.
Octo-Cat smelled it, too, and immediately began rubbing his paw over his face. “Ew, ew, ew,” he complained with each step we took further into the house. “You humans sure have a knack for fouling up your environment. I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to take this.”
“Me either,” I said, lifting the collar of my shirt over my face to form an impromptu breathing filter. “I guess they had to give the place an extra deep cleaning after…”